Beto’s fundraising numbers are very good. What he has not done is convince me that he has either the experience or any superior intellect or wisdom that would qualify him to be President. Beto seems like a nice guy a la Bush the Shrub and I would vote for him over Trump, but he is not impressive when one thinks of the job of being President of the US.
The uber-rich, unemployed, unqualified, white man grifting while pretending to run for President, O’Rourke hasn’t even thought about releasing his tax returns:
On March 20, while campaigning in New Hampshire, he was asked how many years of tax returns he would release.
“That’s a great question. I haven’t thought about that,” O’Rourke said. “I do plan on releasing our tax returns, and I want to do that as soon as we can. Certainly last year, but we’ll find out what the standard is and release that.”
“Great question.” Wonder what else O’Rourke hasn’t thought about? What a dope.
And 2 weeks later, he still has not released them. He is as much of a slow-walker as Nancy Pelosi.
(regarding Medicare for All)
That is what most Americans want when the survey question is free health care. Check out the surveys that follow up with questions about how it might mean you couldn’t choose your doctor, potential delays for tests and non-emergency services (see Canada), and it will be so expensive that taxes will probably have to be raised on everyone down to the middle class? Those poll results change dramatically.
On the other hand, ask people if preexisting conditions should be protected, and you’ve got a solid, stable majority. That’s what we need to be running on, not a pie-in-the-sky Medicare for All plan that means getting rid of not just the ACA but all private insurance.
You don’t think the insurance companies, the doctors, the hospitals, would fight this? Why get into this now, when we absolutely MUST WIN this election? Beefing up the ACA is a simple, easily understood message. Anything involving a transition to singlepayer is not, and can be easily weaponized by the R’s.
Beto understands this, thank FSM, and he backed away from full singlepayer to a Medicare buy-in, which I think is still too hard to run on, but he has time to change his position
You did do that. You definitely did. So who’s your current choice now?
We never objected to her having challengers. We said many times that challengers were doing her campaign as service by exposing weaknesses, making her and the team work at it, keeping it from getting arrogant and flabby.
It was the point when he had obviously lost but kept perpetuating the fantasy that he had a viable path to victory and was being wronged and let Weaver choose delegates entirely for hte purpose of curdling the convention with a whiney-ass shitshow that things went from normal primary heat to purely and forever pissed.
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Where do you get that? His father is wealthy, but no billionaire. I don’t think it’s anything but unfair to call Beto uber-rich.
Seriously, Steve, Hillary Clinton also stayed on after it was clear that she lost to Obama in 2008. There are some implications to campaign financing when the candidate drops out of a race that are ameliorated by the candidate remaining a candidate long enough to tie those things up.
I currently like Elizabeth Warren. She is experienced, smart, and a fighter, and is talking about many of the issues I care deeply about.
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Debates please!!! Substance please. It feels as though we’re watching girlscout troops competing for most boxes sold - although at least then you can get a thin mint. The obsession about tracking money raised without connection to issues and the positions taken by candidates drives me nuts. When’s the swimsuit portion of the contest? There doesn’t seem to be a talent component anymore,
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His household net worth has been estimated at $9 million. That is very close to the top 1% in household wealth, so, yes, uber-rich, in my opinion. His father-in-law’s net worth is estimated to be about one-half billion dollars.
I guess it depends on your definition of “uber.” If you consider that the average household wealth is $68,828 and O’Rourke’s net worth is 131 times that, then he is uber-rich compared to the average American household.
$9 million is not uber-rich.
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It is compared to the average American household wealth of $68,828.
The 2016 Phoenix Wealth and Affluent Monitor found similar trends, although it divided wealth up differently. It reported 0.9 percent of U.S. households have more than $5 million in net worth. But, they own 24 percent of the nation’s wealth. Five percent of the U.S. households own between $1 million and $4.9 million. They own 35 percent of the nation’s wealth. The 25 percent of households who have a net worth between $100,000 and $999,999 own 32 percent of total wealth. The remaining 70 percent of households have a net worth of less than $100,000, and they own 9 percent of the total U.S. wealth.
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I disagree. He may be rich but he isn’t uber-rich.
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Is “uber rich” less than or greater than “filthy rich”? 
What adjective would you use to describe the wealth of a household with a net worth greater than 99% of all other American households?
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I agree that Beto is well-off compared to most Americans, but the uber-rich live in an entirely different world of isolation from normal society. He doesn’t appear to be rich enough to have lost touch with reality. And that’s all I care about.
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@georgeh and I disagreed about this use of the term.
But it’s only a detail – there is a larger point.
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He’s spent a whole lot of time driving around Texas and New Mexico making sure he is in touch. He also has spent a lot of time at the border.
He is way more wealthy than just “well-off.” And the idea that “he doesn’t appear to be rich enough to have lost touch with reality” is based on what information? What amount of wealth causes one to lose touch with reality?
It should also be noted that the majority of his wealth came from his wife and wife’s family. He earned relatively very little of it.
He knows who buttered his toast.
I guess when you’re uber wealthy you can afford to spend a whole lot of time driving around. That doesn’t make one in-touch. Figuring out how to pay medical bills, food, rent, and clothing on a low-paying job is a much better way to be in-touch with the lives of most Americans.
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Based on what I see him doing? I dunno… this is one of those “you know it when you see it” things, and I’ve known some severely out-of-touch uber wealthy people. I don’t move in those circles myself (I wish!), but I was in business floating around the edges of that scene. It’s different, believe me.
If you’re looking for someone running for President without a financial cushion of some sort, good luck with that.
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According to the Fed (last survey, 2016):
Household net worth (average): $692K
Household net worth (median): $97K
I imagine you want to use the median.
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More than I have, obviously.
Silly puppy.
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I used the numbers from here:
The median isn’t skewed by America’s non-gaussian wealth distribution curve, so probably a better number to use.
So O’Rourke’s household wealth is only 93 times the median American household wealth.
Thanks.
I am told fairly regularly here that I am not in touch with reality, so perhaps I should attribute it to my decidedly un-uber wealth. Must be enough, I guess. I’m going to go drive around tomorrow to get back in touch.
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